People briefed on Google's plans told The Wall Street Journal today that the company has begun developing a seven-inch tablet with advanced vision capabilities. According to these sources, the tablet with be packed with a wealth of sensors, including “two back cameras, infrared depth sensors, and advanced software that can capture precise three-dimensional images of objects.”

The tablet will be an offshoot of Google's Project Tango smartphone, which brought two “computer vision processors” together with “a 4MP camera, a depth sensor, and a second camera for motion tracking,” back in February. The moonshot project resulted in a limited run of phones that were reserved for developers who pitched their plans for the phone to Google.

Interestingly enough, the smartphone began as a seven-inch tablet prototype which inserted "the mainboard between two slices of acrylic," which were adorned with automotive-spec sensors, according to SlashGear: "On the front there was a fisheye camera, while on the back was a high-resolution main camera—similar to what you might find on a regular tablet—together with a motion-tracking camera with a fish-eye lens, and a depth sensor."

Google will produce about 4,000 of these newly rumored tablets starting next month, The Wall Street Journal says. Another source told the paper that the tablet “could be released ahead of the company's annual developer conference scheduled for the end of June.”

As with the smartphone, the tablet could use its wealth of sensors to map the interior of a room for indoor navigation, or it could be used to play games. The idea behind Google's limited releases to developers is that, like with Google Glass, the community will play with the hardware and come up with software that could sell the futuristic device to the public.